THU BON RIVER – AN IDEAL DESTINATION FOR TOURISTS

 The Thu Bon River not only carries tonnes of silt to the fertile land in Quang Nam province, central Vietnam, but also contributes to creating lots of cultural heritage sites such as My Son Sanctuary and Hoi An ancient town.

The Thu Bon River descends from little streams running through the forests of cinnamon trees and a rare variety of Ngoc Linh ginseng close to the height of Ngoc Linh Mountain that is over 2,500m high. This mountain is in the Truong Son Mountain Range in Nam Tra My district. In the districts of Tien Phuoc and Hiep Duc, the river is called Tranh (Picture), a really rustic name. But when it flows through the districts of Que Son and Duy Xuyen and merges into the Vu Gia River, it is called Thu Bon. In the past, the Cham people, an ethnic minority group of Vietnam, and their culture were greatly influenced by the Thu Bon River. One of the most glorious vestiges of Cham culture is My Son Sanctuary in Duy Xuyen district. Visiting the sanctuary, one seems lost in the world of the Cham, surrounded by images depicting sacred ceremonies, parades of horses and elephants, shining palanquins and groups of Apsara dancers in colourful dresses dancing at the foot of the ancient towers. Before flowing into the ocean, the river also helped form one of the oldest and most beautiful port cities in Vietnam, Hoi An. Hoi An Ancient Streets, together with nearby Tra Que vegetable-growing village, Thanh Ha pottery village and Cua Dai Beach, became a unique tourism complication along the river.

Non nuoc beach - one of the world's beautiful beaches

Non Nuoc Beach gently slopes towards the calm, clear, blue sea; the clarity of the water attracts visitors who come to bathe and enjoy the seafood. This fine sandy beach with sunshine all the year round makes it suitable for tourism in all four seasons.

Da Nang has a coastline of 30 kilometres long, famous for many beautiful seashores stretching from the north to the south such as My Khe, Thanh Binh, Tien Sa, Son Tra and so on. Non Nuoc Beach also pertains to Da Nang Sea and has been voted as one of the most beautiful and attracting beaches of the planet, 2005, according to Forbes, the leading magazine of America. This beach has gentle slope, mild waves, and purely blue sea water during the four seasons. The unpolluted water source here has attracted a number of tourists in Vietnam travel coming to bathe, enjoy local special sea foods and take a rest for weekends. The beach Non Nước is also a place that exist precious and rare seaweeds such as gracilarias "yellow thread" and glacilaria "screw" that have high value of exporting. With green water and white sand, Non Nuoc Beach stretches five kilometers along the shore of Hoa Hai Ward at the foot of Ngu Hanh Son (The Marble Mountains). The beach is famous for its seaweed, which reaches exportation standards. Many five-star hotels were built in Non Nuoc to accommodate the domestic and foreign tourists in the area. Together with its feature of wave degree, climate, weather and salinity, Non Nuoc Beach is suitable for water sports, especially surfing. In 1993, there took place an international champion with the participation of nearly 40 athletes from many countries around the world. Non Nuoc Beach- Danang Along the beach, on the white sand is a forest of age-old casuarinas which is shady, green and is waving in the whistling wind. This is an ideal place for resting and camping. When the darkness falls and the moon rises, you can set yourself free on smooth benches along the beach to listen to melodious sounds of the waves and enjoy the occult space. The beach is managed by the Non Nuoc Tourism Company that has  three hotels with more than 100 rooms on the beach. They provide entertainment services including photographs for souvenir, handicraft shops, massage, restaurant, tennis and some gymnastics. A chain of tourism resorts is planned to cater for international tourists including seaside hotels and restaurants, especially an international standard golf court. Besides convalescence and bathing, tourists to Non Nuoc Beach can also combine their journeys with traveling the relic Marble Mountains, which boast some ancient pagodas and sacred  monumental caves, go around fine art stone handicraft villages right at the foot of the Mountains or go boating on Co Co River (Stork Neck River) to enjoy peacefulness of the Marble Mountains.

Hua Ma Cave - mysterious place for tourists

Bac Kan is a well-known place as it used to be part of the Viet Bac Revolutionary Zone of the Vietnam Revolutionary Forces and embraces a number of tourist attractions.

Any visitors to Bac Kan could have remarkable feelings about the place and people there. During the resistance war against the French colonists, local people were very bold by having an uprising against the colonisation but now in peacetimes they have become so simple and hospitable. Bac Kan is famous for Ba Be Lake, which consists of three large fantastic lakes surrounded by mountains and forests. Still, there is another mysterious tourist destination, Hua Ma Cave.

Hua Ma Cave is located in Quang Khe Commune, Ba Be District. The cave has only recently been discovered so it is still almost untouched and enigmatic. The cave has been naturally shaped during the many-thousand-year process of geological changes. It is 700 meters in length and in some places the cave opens up and is 50 meters in height. Inside the cave, there are thousands of stalagmites and stalactites of different shapes; some look like small towers, others are like a statue of Goddess of Mercy or a formal court of mandarins in the feudal time.

In fact, Hua Ma has been known by local people for a long time but, as it bears in a myth and a much-weaved occult story, few local people would dare to approach the gate of the cave. The legend tells that a long time ago, a King headed a raiding contingent visited the locality and when he came to the bank of a stream near the cave, his horse stopped and did not go on. The King got off the horse and asked local people about the reason and local people told him that the area was a habitat of ghosts. According to them, when it was getting dark, cries generated from the cave and they decided that these were the spirits of honest people who were killed by foreign enemies during wars.

The King then ordered his troops to erect a pagoda to pray for peace for the souls of the killed people. Since then, local people have not heard the cries from the cave, yet they still consider the cave a holy place that should not be trespassed upon. As a result, the cave has been hidden until recent times.

If the cave is so mysterious inside, the view outside the cave is also great. From the mouth of the cave, people could see a large space, a vast picture of mountains, forests and water. They could see Ba Be Lake and the Nang River running smoothly in distance, they could hear birds singing elsewhere and imposing mountains and forest in front. If lucky enough, visitors could participate in a local monthly market to admire girls and boys of several local ethnic minorities in their traditional colourful dresses and clothes. They could taste and become familiar with local typical specialties and they would get drunk with home-made wine and unconsciously fall in love with the place and people.

Both Hua Ma Cave, the local people and the picturesque locality are waiting for international and domestic tourists to explore them.

TRAVELLING TO TAM DAO NATIONAL PARK

Tam Dao natural park is located in Ho Son Commune, Tam Duong District, and 70km northwest of Hanoi. Situted on the Tam Dao mountain range, the park covers an area of 36,883ha.

Many local people said that Tam Dao was a miniature of Sapa. Apart from the cool climate and the mountain-based location, 2 destinations are intrinsically different. Tam Dao means 3 Islands, a mountain range is far 70km from North of Hanoi. The significant shorter distance from Hanoi to Tam Dao compared with Sa Pa gives the national park many advantages. One can easily combine the visit to the mountain retreat area with a road trip from Hanoi. The cool climate and extensive green is another advantage, especially in the summer when Hanoi always seems overheated. Unlike tropical parks in Vietnam like Cuc Phuong or Cat Tien, Tam Dao represents a different type of fauna and flora that adapts to its cooler and drier air. Tam Dao for travelling to Vietnam is more with a relaxing retreat than an intense adventure. Accommodation facility is readily available, as well as restaurants and easy walks. The road that leads from lowland to highland is breath-taking: those that are into physical activities can never afford to miss a biking tour. Tam Dao specialties are various and one person should not leave the mountain resort without trying lon man - a special type of pork and su su - both delicious things with its fruits and its leafy vegetables. In the winter, be prepared with warmer clothes since it can get quite cold. In the summer, it is pleasantly sunny but avoid sun burn by using plenty of sun block before hitting road.

Vietnam plans helicopter tourism

The Northern Service Flight Company of Vietnam Helicopter Corporation under the Ministry of National Defense convened on June 6 to discuss use of helicopters as a means to exploit tourism.

Ba Ria-Vung Tau. (Photo: Internet)

With a view to better exploit the country’s tourism potential, participants at the meeting said that use of helicopters will add a new service in tourism and also attract high income earners and foreign holidaymakers. This new service will also offer diversity in tourism to meet a growing demand.

At the meeting, representatives from Hanoi and the northern province of Quang Ninh spoke of tourism potential in the two regions.

Air operators also introduced flights, such as the North Flight Service Company plans to launch 20 flights from Hanoi to famous tourist destinations like Ha Long Bay, Cat Bi, Cat Ba, Mong Cai, Lao Cai, Dien Dien, Hoa Binh, in the North; Thua Thien-Hue, Vinh, Da Nang in Central Vietnam and Vung Tau, Con Dao and Can Tho in the South.

At the meeting, tourist operators, embassies and five-star hotels had a chance to exchange information and sign contracts to introduce potential customers to various helicopter services.

VN rejects rumor of UNESCO’s elimination of Cat Tien park

Local officials have rejected the rumor that UNESCO has eliminated Cat Tien National Park as a candidate for its “Natural World Heritage” title, explaining that the Dong Nai’s People’s Committee has withdrawn the application to revise and update it.

The Cat Tien National Park, one of the country's key wildlife sanctuaries

According to Tran Van Mui, head of the Cat Tien application project, the provincial People’s Committee on May 16 asked the Vietnam National Commission for UNESCO and the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism to allow it to retrieve the application file submitted earlier to be revised and updated following UNESCO experts’ advice during their survey of the park.

The application was prepared in 2007, therefore data in the file needs to updated, Mui explained.

The committee will submit the new application by September 30.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), UNESCO’s counseling body, sent an inspectorate to Cat Tien National Park last September.

While the experts highly appreciated the park’s rich biodiversity, they also spelled out several revisions that need to be made, including the park’s borders, updated numbers of rare flora and fauna species, and the park’s management plans.

UNESCO’s World Heritage Convention is set to meet in Cambodia from June 16 to 27, during which the organization is expected to make its decision on whether to grant the title to the park.

The organization also urged Vietnam to step up control and management of Cat Tien to tackle rampant threats of construction of hydropower plants, rock exploitation, illegal logging, and wildlife poaching and trading, as well as unstable tourism development in the area.

Cat Tien National Park, located approximately 150 km north of Ho Chi Minh City, is a key national park. It covers an area of roughly 720 km² and serves as a sanctuary for one of the largest areas of lowland tropical rainforests left in Vietnam, as well as diverse flora and fauna.

Cat Tien initially comprised of Nam Cat Tien and Tay Cat Tien back in 1978. Another area, Cat Loc, was announced as a Rhinoceros Reserve in 1992 upon the discovery of a population of the Vietnamese Javan Rhinoceros, which brought the park international attention. The three areas were combined to form the current park in 1998.

Though the Javan Rhinoceros is now extinct in Vietnam, the park is still home to 40 IUCN Red List species, and protects around 30% of Vietnam's species.

Chi Linh Star Golf & Country Club - international standard Club

Chi Linh Star Golf & Country Club with beautiful valley, surrounded by rolling forest hills,large lake and complex model restaurant ,resort spa... will give you a nice tour.

Location: Sao Do Town, Chi Linh District, Hai Duong Province, 48km from Hanoi along the road going to Halong Bay.
Characteristic:Chi Linh Star Golf & Country Club is an international standard Golf and Country Club which is in the center of the strategic Economic development and Tourism triangle of the North of Vietnam: Hanoi - Haiphong - Halong (Quang Ninh). Chi Linh Star Golf & Country Club is an ideal destination for golfing tourists.

Chi Linh Star Golf & Country Club

The Chi Linh Star Golf Course features a 36-hole golfing challenge, with every hole constructed and designed to international standard. "The Best Place To Play" begins with nine holes, opened in November 2003.

The 160ha site on which the course is being constructed lies within a beautiful valley, surrounded by rolling forest hills, and nestles beside a large lake complete with rolling creeks and natural water flowing from the surrounding area. 11 holes over 36 have water risks (6 over water and 5 touching water). The hotel of golf club features 90 deluxe rooms and suites, two restaurants, conference facilities, resort spa services, tennis court, swimming pool and spa, 24 hour room service, nightclub and two bars.

A visit to Chi Linh will no doubt leave a lasting impression, whether it be for a great round of golf, or simply having made the visit to a truly special place, transformed with care and attention to every detail.

If tourists in Vietnam Travel have chance to visit Hai Duong province, you should go to Chi Linh Star Golf & Country Club to try playing in here!